From innovative furniture and lighting to wayfinding and all sorts of technology, see the designs that won this year’s IDEA Awards

by Brianna Crandall — September 24, 2018 — The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) has just announced the 145 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) 2018 winners. The IDEA preview gallery displays all of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winning designs across all categories. The level of each winner was unveiled live at the IDEA Ceremony and Gala on September 19 at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, LA.

The IDEA program has represented the pinnacle of design achievement for 38 years. “For anyone who is a maker, who is building something, it’s the ultimate achievement to win an IDEA,” says CEO and founder of fuseproject, Yves Béhar, IDSA. “IDEA is the award by designers, for designers.”

White and blue diverse office furniture collection

Teknion’s Expansion Cityline, a furniture system based on the concept of planning for a workplace as diverse and dynamic as a modern city, earned Gold in the Office & Accessories category. Image courtesy Teknion

The 20 competition categories for the 2018 IDEA program cover a wide range including Automotive and Transportation, Branding, Consumer Technology, Home, Medical and Health, Service Design, Student Designs and more, as well as categories relevant to facilities management (FM) such as Environments, Furniture and Lighting, and Offices and Accessories.

The diverse categories are said to demonstrate the expansive nature of industrial design and its impact on daily life, reflecting the designer’s remarkable ability to respond to challenges through creative thinking and thoughtful design and change the way people live, work and play.

Examples of disruptive IDEA winners in recent years include Apple’s original iPhone (Gold, 2008), Tesla’s Model S (Gold, 2013), and the Oculus Rift (Bronze, 2016).

For more information about the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) and to view some of the products and technology that may bring change to your workplace and life in coming years, see the IDEA preview gallery.

For more FM-specific information on Teknion’s product offerings, see the company’s FMLink ad.